Sir Tony Blair admits he ‘may have been wrong’ about decision to invade Iraq and Afghanistan… but insists he thought it was the ‘right thing to do’
- Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair defended decision to invade Iraq in 2003
- He told Archbishop of Canterbury he thought that it was the ‘right thing to do’
- But Blair admitted he ‘may have been wrong’ about the controversial war
- ‘In those really big decisions… you’ve got to follow, in the end, your own instinct’
Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair has admitted he ‘may have been wrong’ about the decision to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, but insisted he thought it was ‘the right thing’ to do.
Speaking to the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby as part of BBC Radio 4’s The Archbishop Interviews series, Sir Tony defended his decision to intervene in the Middle East alongside former US president George W Bush.
‘People often say over Iraq or Afghanistan that I took the wrong decision but you’ve got to do what you think is right,’ the 68-year-old said.
Tony Blair has admitted he may have been wrong about the war in Iraq but insists he thought it was the right thing to do
Around 750,000 anti-war demonstrators marched in London against the war in Iraq on February 15, 2003 – a day which saw million of people around the world take to the streets in the biggest mass protest since the Vietnam war
‘Whether you are right or not is another matter. In those really big decisions you don’t know what all the different component elements are, and you’ve got to follow, in the end, your own instinct.’
He added that although his decision ‘may have been wrong’, he ‘had to do what I thought was the right thing’.
Sir Tony was appointed a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry, in the New Year’s honours list.
However, a Change.org petition to strip him of his knighthood gathered more than one million signatures.
President George W. Bush and Blair shake hands in Belfast after their third meeting in a month to discuss progress in the war with Iraq
The petition said: ‘Tony Blair caused irreparable damage to both the constitution of the United Kingdom and to the very fabric of the nation’s society.
‘He was personally responsible for causing the death of countless innocent civilian lives and servicemen in various conflicts. For this alone he should be held accountable for war crimes.
‘Tony Blair is the least deserving person of any public honour, particularly anything awarded by Her Majesty the Queen.’
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